A group of 10 armed North Korean troops violated the inter-Korean border on Saturday apparently to inspect signposts around the area, and retreated after their Southern counterparts fired warning shots, the South Korean military said Sunday. 

The North Korean soldiers crossed the Military Demarcation Line near Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., prompting the South to send calls for a withdrawal and then fire warning shots, an Army official said, adding that the North Koreans did not fire back, though they were armed.

The incident marked the South Korean military’s first discharge of warning shots against North Korean servicemen this year.

Last October, the two Koreas briefly traded fire after the North Korean soldiers approached the MDL in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. No casualties occurred that time.

Pyongyang is believed to have been tightening border controls and reconnaissance activities in recent years as part of its efforts to stem the defector outflow, while beefing up training for surprise attacks and ambush infiltrations into the Demilitarized Zone and its surrounding regions.

Nearly 1,300 wooden or concrete markers have been set up every 200-300 meters along the heavily fortified frontier.

Adm. Choi Yun-hee, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also visited a general outpost last month in the middle part of the eastern line near a guard post through which a North Korean soldier expressed his desire to defect to the South. He warned that the North was “deliberately fostering tension” surrounding the maritime and territorial borders and raising the possibility for an “unpredicted provocation.” 

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)